The gun and bomb assault on a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula on Nov. 24, including children, is the deadliest attack Egypt has witnessed, with adeath toll of soaring above 300.

According to the state prosecution, up to 30 militants in camouflage flying the black banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had surrounded the mosque and massacred worshippers during weekly Friday prayers.

Ankara-Cairo ties have been at odds since the brutal crackdown on mass protests against the coup d’etat that overthrew former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Morsi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was imprisoned for a mass jail break during the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced to life for spying on behalf of the Palestinian group Hamas.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had extended April 10 his condolences to his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, over two Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) church attacks in the country in a phone call, marking a rare diplomatic interaction between the two countries since the ouster of Morsi.